The DaVinci Code and the Nag Hammadi Gospels

Abstract

Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code1 is a publishing phenomenon, having sold, so far, over thirty million copies in 40 languages. A movie is also scheduled to be released shortly. The book begins with murder and continues as a high-stakes mystery in which the two heroes, Langdon and Sophie, frantically try to solve a sequence of puzzles that will eventually lead them to the holy grail,2 all the while running from the police and a psychopathic killer. A crucial part of the plot of The Da Vinci Code revolves around the claim that Christianity is, in fact, one big conspiracy. To back up this claim, the character Teabing provides evidence based on a couple of the so-called “gospels” found at Nag Hammadi. What are these “gospels”? What do they teach, and what can we learn from their appearance in The Da Vinci Code?